Dallas artist rescues castoff hubcaps

Sharon Zigrossi has been selling her art made from hubcaps for 10 years. Photos courtesy of the artist.

Sept. 18, 2019

Sharon Zigrossi never met a hubcap she didn’t like.

The discarded car parts have been her medium of choice since stumbling on her first hubcap on a walk 10 years ago. Today, the Dallas artist enjoys embellishing them with found objects to create freewheeling designs.

“When I look at a hubcap I see a flower,” said Zigrossi, who is also an avid organic gardener.

Despite having spent hundreds of hours decorating hubcaps, the ideas keep rolling in.

“I have more ideas than I have time to paint them,” she admits.

Today her fascination has turned into a sideline. She sells her dressed up wheels under the name Blooming Hub Caps.

Zigrossi said she’s never had to buy her base material. She finds hubcaps everywhere. She snags them from roadsides and highways. Plus friends regularly dump bags of them on her doorstep. 

“Every [hubcap] I’ve ever had has been rescued,” said Zigrossi. “I feel like I’m cleaning the roads, keeping them out of the landfill.”

Some are pristine, some are banged up. She’s found a few metal ones but most are made from plastic that's not recyclable. All are covered in grease and have to be scrubbed up before she works on them.

A true recycle artist, she decorates her wheels with other found objects such as buttons, bottlecaps and cutouts from aluminum cans. She collects old game pieces and dice at estate sales for texture.

“A recycle artist is kind of a hoarder,” joked Zigrossi.

hubcapsSharon Zigrossi has amassed of a cache of hubcaps.

Zigrossi, who has a design degree from Buffalo State College in New York, has worked in a variety of niches over the years, including public relations, photography and most recently for a landscape company. But for the last decade, hubcaps have kept her mental wheels spinning.

“I love collages, That’s what the hubcaps allow me to do. It really is sort of a meditative process.”

A master gardener with an eye for flowers, she started out making yard art. Over the years, the pieces have become more intricate and designed for home decor. Her work now sells on Etsy for $150 to $340 each.

Recently she started doing workshops.

She gave an art therapy workshop to breast cancer patients at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, during their Drive Out Cancer campaign. The ladies' hubcap art will be on display in the cancer center's main lobby during October.

She’s hosting two workshops at North Haven Gardens on Oct. 19 and Nov. 23. (See info below.)

“I find it so joyful to make them. I thought ‘I’d love to share this with people.’”

 

Recycling Workshop: Blooming Hubcaps

About: Dallas artist Sharon Zigrossi will show participants how to make art from hubcaps.

When: Oct. 19 and Nov. 23 from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: North Haven Gardens, 7700 Northaven Road, Dallas

Register:  Oct. 19 and Nov. 23

Cost: $80-$85. All supplies included.

Hubcap art


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